Who Told You That You Could Call Me By My First Name?

Especially for folks in higher age brackets, which likely includes a lot of us here, keeping the name business simple has real advantages ...

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kh66yZj3qlk[/ame]
 
When young women started calling me "sir," I knew the end was near. I'm fine with my first name in any situation. If an adult introduces me to a young person as Mr. X, I'm fine with that, too. My grand children call me Papa, which I love.
 
Well I HATE being called Gary by phone solicitors and by people who don't know me. For those who know me Gary is always good and I encourage it. Most of the time it's Mr. Gary which I still can't wrap my mind around but I just let it go-small town thing. In New Orleans it is a bit more formal and my children's friends have always referred to me by my last name. Over the past several years it has been my pleasure to bestow upon them the acceptance of them as adults by telling them it's time to start calling me Gary. A little right of passage that has unfortunately passed.
What I find amusing is when people who don't know my wife's first name will greet her as Mrs. Gary.
I always start off a new relationship with last name and am always asked to use the first. Gives them the respect they deserve and makes for good relationships. But I really don't let my panties get in a twist about it.
One thing however is that I ALWAYS refer to elected officials by their first name only as I feel it let's them know that they work for me and not the other way around.
 
MY INNER YANKEE IS SHOWING.

I can't wrap my head around the Mr/Mrs (first name thing). While being respectful, it's TOO formal & informal at the same time for me. Pick one or the other. :rolleyes: All my friends parents WERE Mr or Mrs & that respect never seemed to change, so neither did the name. Also referring to a stranger with a term reserved for relatives like Aunt or Uncle just feels wrong. It's as if it somehow dilutes the value of the term. I know it's small potato's, just the way it is, FOR ME.
 
Here adults are usually called Mr or Ms (first name) by younger folks.
Now, in a restaurant or convenience store it is: darling, sweetie, sugar, honey, ect, etc.
Steve

This is definitely a regional thing. If a server in a restaurant in Iowa calls me "sugar," I'm going to look over my shoulder to see who she's really talking to, but here, it's just how people talk. It's like "hon" in Baltimore.
 
When young women started calling me "sir," I knew the end was near.

A scalding-hot, 12 on a scale of 1-10, X-ray tech was helping me up out of the MRI machine. My heart skipped at beat. Then she patted me on the shoulder and said, "Sir I did not want you to fall and break something." I would have preferred she kicked me someplace private.

I hoped for several weeks afterwards that death was imminent. I have gotten over it now-I guess my first clue that I am getting old should have been that I was getting an MRI in the first place!
 
Last edited:
When it comes right down to it, I can only control how I address other people and lead by example. It is a lot easier to become less formal than more formal in addressing other people.

Civility is still recognized and appreciated. On my last job a lender contact said to me, "You're the politest person I deal with" or words to that effect.
 
My reply to those that take it upon themselves to call me by my first name because they don't know any better is "You can call me Mr. Viper."

For those that lack any common sense or upbringing and call me something like dude, buddy or some other catchy term, I usually say "Please don't call me ____." "You can call me Mr. Viper. For slow learners that can't control themselves and repeat the dude or buddy thing, I usually just remind them "It's still Mr. Viper." I've never had to go beyond that but my next move would be just to terminate the conversation and walk away.
 
When young women started calling me "sir," I knew the end was near.

It can be worse...my wife called in a pizza order, and I went in to pick it up (no drive through window or delivery at this place.) When I got home, the pizza wasn't made as my wife had specified, so she called to complain. The young lady she spoke to said, "Oh yes, I remember the elderly gentleman coming in to pick that up." :( :mad:
 
When I was a punk second lieutenant, our battery had a party for the officers and NCOs (a practice I don't recommend) After a considerable quantity of alcohol had been consumed an NCO grinned at me and asked if he should call me 'Roger' or 'Sir.'

I grinned back. "It's a pity I was never knighted. Then you could call me Sir Roger."
 
It can be worse...my wife called in a pizza order, and I went in to pick it up (no drive through window or delivery at this place.) When I got home, the pizza wasn't made as my wife had specified, so she called to complain. The young lady she spoke to said, "Oh yes, I remember the elderly gentleman coming in to pick that up." :( :mad:

My brother is 3 years younger than me. We're of similar size and there is enough resemblance to infer that we are related. We get asked how we're related fairly often. One time we were going through the checkout line at the grocery store and the cashier asked if we were father and son. I think I just said that we were brothers. I didn't want to embarrass her and worry myself as to which one of us she thought was the father.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GKC
The whole point of a name is so that others may use it to address you.What did they call you as a child?You werent offended then right?
 
Back
Top